You might read the letter to the editor above and think, “Oh, I see where he got the idea for the column,” but trust me, this is something that’s been circling around in my head for a while.
Summer is here, which means two things when it comes to roads: 1) construction season is here, and 2) it’s time to watch out for student drivers. While road construction and student drivers can be seen all year round, they tend to be more common in the summer (both of which are often due to school being out).
Construction or not, the behaviour and patterns I have seen on the roads in and around Derby over the last few weeks suggest we would all do well to go back to school to better understand some of the basic principles of driving. And to be clear, I fully include myself in that statement above.
A lack of patience seems to be the source of a lot of the poor driving I see all the time, and I suspect it may be responsible for some of the road rage incidents we’ve been hearing about lately, including one not far from Derby. Has getting from point A to point B become so important that it escalates into a physical altercation?
Personally, I know I have a tendency to follow cars too closely. I take responsibility for that bad driving habit. It has cost me cars in the past. According to the Kansas driving handbook, the custom is to leave two seconds (or enough time to react) between you and the car in front of you, but I don’t always do that.
Let’s be honest, how many of you can remember all the details of that guide? I know it’s a lot to remember (I’m sure it is if you’re a student driver), but I think with a little patience you’ll have the time to go back through that guide and find the most important information I’ve hidden away.
Over the past few weeks, I have seen other vehicles try to use ambulances to pass other vehicles that are following the traffic laws and moving to the side of the road to give way to emergency vehicles. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen other vehicles not move into the side lanes when an emergency vehicle is parked on the side of the road (even though there are no other vehicles around).
Last week, while driving to my sister’s house after church (my mom was with me), we were following a green light at an intersection in Wichita when a car ran a red light right in front of us. If I hadn’t accelerated just a little slower, this column might not be happening.
But the most talked about issue in Derby is the flashing yellow turn signals. This is something that just came up in a recent meeting with city staff. I know city staff hears about it a lot, and I’ve seen a lot of comments on social media during my time at The Informer. As unpopular as it may be, there is a meaning and a reason for the flashing yellow turn signals, and it’s based on traffic patterns.
Personally, I deal with flashing yellow lights on Madison and K-15 on my daily commute, so I’m used to it. Yielding to oncoming traffic until there’s a gap to turn is now a daily occurrence. Again, with a little patience, it’s not that difficult to follow the basic principles laid out for the safety of all drivers.
